A Night at the Roxburghe Hotel, Part 2

Last week I took you on a lavish tour of the Roxburghe Hotel, one of the Scottish Borders’s most atmospheric, luxurious, and comfortable accommodations. I explored my massive suite, soaked in the ambience of the library, and warmed up by the massive hearth fire. Oh, and I ate. A lot. The photos I shared were a small sample of the scads I took during my stay.

But it’s not all eating and sleeping at the Roxburghe Hotel – of course you would be well satisfied if that was the extent of your stay. What truly sets it apart from the crowd are the various activities available to guests. The hotel stands amidst 50,000 acres of the Roxburghe Estate (which also includes Floors Castle), and provides everything from golf to shooting to fishing.

I spent an entire day rambling the Roxburghe’s grounds and trying my hand at fly fishing and skeet shooting, both of which were personal firsts. After a huge breakfast (as detailed in Part 1) I threw on my flannel and hiking boots and left the hotel’s cozy interior to explore. The grounds surrounding the hotel are lovingly tended, and even though spring hadn’t quite set in everything was neat and beautiful.

In short order I found a path that led into the woods behind the hotel. An informational placard showed a map of the grounds with the sites of different activities called out, but I intended to get lost. The morning light shining through the woods was a welcome reminder of hiking in Dunkeld a few years back. Scottish forests are the best places to hike simply for the rich atmosphere.

After passing the Roxburghe’s driving range and a small pond, the trail pushed into deeper woods and split multiple times. You could easily lose yourself without fear of getting lost. Along the way, it seems, my intrusion was noticed, for a roe deer (I think) checked my progress through his forest, and I scared more than a couple grouse from their morning business.

Eventually, I exited the woods to find myself overlooking one of the golf course’s holes. The Roxburghe’s course is a par 72 with more than 7,000 yards off the back tees. As the day was wearing on and I had an appointment, I circled back through another stand of woods to the hotel. There, I had the great fortune to meet Alistair Ferguson, the hotel’s ghillie, who was determined to teach me a thing or two about country sporting. We drove his golf cart over to the shooting range where he introduced me to a pair of beautiful shotguns.

The range provides stands for shooting clay pigeons at different distances, to emulate different fowl. After a brief lesson Alistair was jamming the button and I was blasting the small, black disks out of the sky. I think Alistair is something of a poet at heart, for he compared shooting to ballet more than once. The key is to Arabesque: Keep a straight front leg and put your weight on it, bend at the waist, and follow the clay pigeon even after you pull the trigger. If you look up or stop tracking after shooting, your shot will be behind. With Alistair’s insight and experience, I became a pretty damn good shot in no time.

After an hour of being rained on by clay pigeon fragments (that I had created), we moved on to the fishing pond to try our hands at some fly fishing. Alistair assembled the rod and reel and began teaching me the ins and outs. It’s all in the wrist. There’s a fluidity in the casting that emphasizes your timing, not your strength, for you are letting the weight of the line carry itself out. While I was a natural at the skeet shooting, it took me awhile to nail down the fly fishing basics – keep your elbow close to your body, bring the rod up to 90 degrees, and snap your wrist forward. Over the course of an hour and a half neither of us managed to catch anything despite others pulling in trout. Such is the fisherman’s life.

The sun was setting by the time I returned to the hotel for a dram of Macallan 10 and a pipe out on the chilly, windy terrace. What a day it had been! I thanked Alistair for all his guidance and the many hilarious, cheeky stories he told throughout our time together. I couldn’t remember another day in Scotland where I had not left my accommodation and had such a memorable time.

It was a real pleasure staying at the Roxburghe Hotel. I can’t recommend it highly enough for you the next time you’re in the Scottish Borders.